Austria: Rally in Solidarity with Mali and against the French Intervention

Report from the RKOB (Austrian section of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency), 26.1.2013

On 25th January, a number of activists protested in Vienna (Austria) in front of the French embassy against the imperialist invasion in Mali. The
platform of the united front rally was the slogan “France and EU: Hands off Mali!”. The activists – unimpressed by the minus degree temperature – chanted slogans like “France, EU –
Hands off Mali!” and “Long live international solidarity!”

The rally was called by the RKOB (Austrian section of the RCIT) and supported by several other organizations like the GKK (Austrian section of CoReP),
Kommunistische Initiative, Revolutionärer Aufbau, Initiative für den Aufbau einer revolutionary-kommunistischen Partei und die Antiimperialistische Koordination. The rally was also attended by
representatives of the media.

Johannes Wiener, National Secretary of the RKOB, stated in his speech that France’s war in Mali is a “colonial war”. He pointed out that France did
already intervene militarily 60 times in Africa. He referred to the fact that the imperialist powers did already wage a number of colonial wars in the past and this is just another reactionary,
unjust war in the name of “humanitarian interests”.

Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the RCIT and convener of the rally, expressed in his speech the consistent anti-imperialist position of
communists. He stated that while we have politically nothing in common with Islamism or petty-bourgeois nationalism, we are not neutral in this war. We stand for the defeat of the imperialist
intruders and for the victory of the rebels who fight the French and their allied armies.